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Be Bold, Speak Truth

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Happy Easter! I love how we celebrate during the Octave and continue on to Pentecost.

In both Acts and Mark’s Gospel passage for today we find belief and unbelief. Mark tells us that Jesus revealed Himself to Mary Magdalen and two others and their response is to go to the others who are mourning and tell them about seeing Jesus; yet they do not believe. Jesus then takes matters into His own hands and appears to them; he “rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart,” (Mark 16:14). I can see this scene in my mind. I can hear these words being directed toward me. 

Now, when I rebuke a person, I am often harsh and my face shows the emotions I feel – anger, disappointment, annoyance. That is not what I see when Jesus stands and rebukes. On his face I see an invitation, a reminder, the gentle correction of the One who loves me to death and hurts because I am not with him. Is he annoyed? Maybe, but the overriding sense I have is one of sorrow because I have turned from him. I repent, not out of fear but out of love. 

And in that repentance, I find the courage to do as Peter and John, to tell others about Jesus and all he has done for me and all he wants to do for everyone. We are not given the gift of belief and faith to keep it to ourselves. Mary did not go back to the apostles to tell them about Jesus to make herself important. She does it to ease their pain but also because she could not encounter the Lord and keep it to herself. Do you keep your encounters to yourself? I am going to encourage you, no – challenge you – to stop keeping your faith to yourself. When you are given answers to prayer, when your life moves in a way that can only be God it is imperative that we tell others. 

And each of us will do this in the way that is in keeping with our nature. It may be difficult or awkward at first but keep at it. The Good News is meant to be shared as Jesus tells us, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature,” (Mark 16:15). 

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Deanna G. Bartalini, M.Ed.; M.P.A., is a certified spiritual director, writer, speaker and content creator. The LiveNotLukewarm.com online community is a place to inform, engage and inspire your Catholic faith. Her weekly Not Lukewarm Podcast gives you tips and tools to live out your faith in your daily life.

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Easter People

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He is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

How powerful is today’s First Reading from Acts of the Apostles! We hear that Peter and John are arrested for doing good and miraculous works in the name of Christ. We should have the same confidence in Christ that Peter and John do. In defense of their actions, they defend the name and person of Christ: “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved”. Peter and John testify to Jesus Christ as Truth incarnate who became man for the sake of our salvation. Their testimony–in both word and deed–show us that when we do good works in the name of Christ, there are two possible outcomes: the conversion of others or the persecution by others. Peter and John experience both and face both with unwavering faith in Christ. 

The story we hear in the Gospel tells of the third time Jesus reveals Himself to the disciples after His death and resurrection. Christ seeks out his disciples in the ordinariness of their lives. They are fishing, something that supports their livelihood. Christ knows that His followers need inspiration in every aspect of their lives, especially in the midst of the ordinary. It is in our everyday lives that we should be living out the Gospel. We should seek Jesus in the faces of the people who we encounter in the midst of our typical day, in the tedium of sending emails or returning phone calls, in the mundane tasks of picking up milk or driving kids to swim lessons, and in the normality of conversations with our families, co-workers, and friends. Those we encounter should also see the face of Christ in us when they meet us in the humdrum of everyday life. 

As we continue through this Easter season, may we remember to be a witness to the miracle of the Resurrection in our everyday lives. May our hearts be ever ready to see the face of Christ in every person we encounter and may we be a light for others on the path to Christ.

“We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song!” – St. John Paul the Great

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

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An Untroubled Heart

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Jesus stands amid the Apostles, offers his peace, and then further offers words of comfort with a proclamation to not let our hearts be troubled. Although not always the simplest task, God never asks for the impossible; therefore, we can be assured of the graces necessary to accomplish it.

As worries mount, so too is the tendency to feel God has forgotten us or abandoned us. Perhaps the Apostles felt that way following the death of our Lord and before he appeared with this greeting of peace. In Christ, there is always hope; we have in both the Old and New Testament the assurance to never be forsaken nor abandoned (Hebrews 13:5); recalling Jesus remains with us always, until the end of the age, to be exact ( Matthew 28:20).  

It is precisely those moments when we struggle the most to see God amid our circumstances that we should rely on the gift of hindsight. Looking back to the outcomes of other hardships or trials (especially those beyond our control), carefully and prayerfully recognize all the graces bestowed. The situation possibly didn’t resolve as wished, yet there is a discernable peace associated with that time and some greater good that comes from it.

Like the Apostles between the Resurrection and Pentecost, we too may see our peace disturbed, or doubts creep in when we don’t know the path to the place Jesus has for us. It is human nature to want all the details, and we want them before we act. That is not the trust to which Jesus calls us. The road may seem confusing or beyond our reach. The promises, while trustworthy, may feel for someone else and not for someone so filled with doubt, sin, or fear. Remember, out of great love for us, while we were still sinners, God sent his only Son to die for our redemption (Romans 5:8).

Jesus is truly the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and we don’t have to search far to find He is always with us. He journeys alongside our darkness and our joy. He is the embodiment of the unseen God; if we have seen him, then we have seen the Father. We don’t need to search far to find signs and wonders of a God; we can witness his almighty love in a sunrise, the sweet smile of a child, and the peace which comes in prayer. And most notably, in the Eucharist, “The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread” (Luke 24:35). Amen, this is where hope prevails amid the most challenging and uncertain times in Christ, always by our side.

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Allison Gingras is a Deacon’s wife and seasoned mom of three. Allison works for Family Rosary as a social media and digital specialist, as well as a new media consultant for Catholic Mom and the Diocese of Fall River. She is the author of Encountering Signs of Faith: My Unexpected Journey with Sacramentals, the Saints, and the Abundant Grace of God (Fall 2022, Ave Maria Press). Allison developed the Stay Connected Journals for Women series including her two volumes – The Gift of Invitation and Seeking Peace (OSV). She’s hosted A Seeking Heart with Allison Gingras podcast since 2015.

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The views and opinions expressed in the Inspiration Daily blog are solely those of the original authors and contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Diocesan, the Diocesan staff, or other contributors to this blog.

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Rejoice

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The Octave of Easter is full of redemptive resurrection joy. Each day is a celebration of Easter and the joy it brings to believers.  The readings today bring forth two stories of rejoicing: the healing of a man crippled from birth by two of the apostles and the road to Emmaus. The Psalm calls on the hearts that seek the Lord to rejoice!

Today I ask you to pray with me a prayer and hymn of praise, the Te Deum, as it appears in the Liturgy of the Hours, the Office of Readings for this day. Rejoice!

You are God: we praise you;

You are God: we acclaim you;

You are the eternal Father:

All creation worships you.

To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,

Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:

Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might,

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

The glorious company of apostles praise you.

The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.

The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.

Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you:

Father, of majesty unbounded,

Your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,

And the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.

You, Christ, are the king of glory,

The eternal Son of the Father.

When you became man to set us free

You did not spurn the Virgin’s womb.

You overcame the sting of death,

And opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.

We believe that you will come, and be our judge.

Come then, Lord, and help your people,

Bought with the price of your own blood,

And bring us with your saints

To glory everlasting.

Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.

Govern and uphold them now and always.

Day by day we bless you.

We praise your name forever.

Keep us today, Lord, from all sin.

Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.

Lord, show us your love and mercy;

For we put our trust in you.

In you, Lord, is our hope:

And we shall never hope in vain.

Alleluia! Amen! Rejoice!

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Beth Price is part of the customer care team at Diocesan. She is a Secular Franciscan (OFS) and a practicing spiritual director. Beth shares smiles, prayers, laughter, a listening ear and her heart with all of creation. Reach her here bprice@diocesan.com.

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This Changes Everything

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While the phrase, “This changes everything” could be seen as overused or an over exaggeration, in today’s Gospel no phrase could be more apt. However, in the strange and mysterious ways of God, there is an element that remains unchanged, even while the whole course of human history has been rerouted. 

Today, we hear the story of Mary Magdalen’s encounter with the risen Jesus just outside the tomb. In her distress, when she first hears Jesus she doesn’t look at Him. She assumes He is the gardener. Only when He calls her by name does she look up to see the resurrected Christ. 

By name He calls her. Just as during Jesus’ previous ministry, He intimately knows each one of His followers. He calls them, singles them out of the crowd, to come and follow Him. Even after going through His Passion, even after the mystery of His Resurrection, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, still does not lose sight of one member of His flock. Nothing has changed. 

And yet as we know, everything changed. Without speaking in a parable, Jesus identifies His disciples as His “brothers.” He claims them as siblings, explaining that they would now share one Father, one God. This statement makes it clear that this relationship is changing, it has been transformed. 

As baptized Christians, we are given a claim to this status of sibling. We are sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus. We share one Father and can pray the prayer Jesus taught us with renewed meaning. “Our Father” is not a theoretical statement, or some lofty metaphor. This is my Father, and your Father. We are made into a new family. No one we encounter can truly be a stranger, for everyone we meet is another brother, another sister, within God’s extensive family. 

We are just beginning the Easter celebrations. Just as Jesus instructed Mary to go and announce what she had seen and heard, so too are we called. We are called to share the Good News with our brothers and sisters and to live our lives in such a way that they can see something is different. We too have been transformed. The Resurrection changes everything.

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Kate Taliaferro is an Air Force wife and mother. She is blessed to be able to homeschool, bake bread and fold endless piles of laundry. When not planning a school day, writing a blog post or cooking pasta, Kate can be found curled up with a book or working with some kind of fiber craft. Kate blogs at DailyGraces.net.

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Fearful Yet Overjoyed

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Think back on a moment of life where everything changed. One of those crystal moments, where you know things will never be the same. Think of that moment when something you had been looking forward to became real; you were accepted at college, got your dream job, the moment your vocation became clear, the day of your marriage, the birth of your child.

These are such happy spots in our earthly lives! We are overcome with joy and delight. And, often, then reality sinks in. Can I cut it in college? What if I can’t? What if I am not as good at this job as I think I will be? Can I really spend the rest of my earthly life this way? Am I willing to give everything to get this person to heaven? What if I fail as a parent? How does this change tomorrow? Will anything in my life ever be the same?

The same can happen as we experience the joy of Easter. Christ is risen, Alleluia! Something so minor as death cannot overtake our Lord!

But the questions come, what does this mean to me? Is Easter simply the ending of my Lenten penance? Can I now go back to eating chocolate and putting cream in my coffee without giving it another thought? Can I pick up that weekly grande latte again rather than giving to someone in greater need? Do I just pick up where I left off on Mardi Gras like Lent (and Easter) never happened? What has to change in my life because Jesus has risen? How does this change tomorrow? Will anything in my life ever be the same?

The Church, in her infinite motherly wisdom, again provides. Easter is not a single day after which we put away the bunnies and baskets and go back to our daily routine. Easter is a season which begins with the rising of Jesus and ends with the descent of the Holy Spirit as the grand finale! Lent was 40 days. Easter gives us 50 days to soak it all in. We have time to meditate on the reality of Easter, not to be fearful but to let our senses, honed by abstinence and penance, truly consider what it means to serve a risen Lord. Our Lenten penance isn’t a thing of the past, it is now the prepared bedding where our Easter joy takes root. Our hearts and souls are ready to turn back to God for this time of grace and joy.

My prayer for you is that you are able to spend this Easter, all of Easter, not as a “getting back to normal” but as a time to find a new normal. To integrate in new ways, what it means to serve the One who overcame death through love. Like Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, may your joy at Easter so fill your heart that you run to share the news of Christ’s love with all you meet.

Easter blessings!

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Sheryl gratefully serves the St. Therese Catholic School community as both the kindergarten teacher and the school principal. When not teaching, she takes the roll of student as she studies with her husband who is in formation to be Deacon in the Diocese of Kalamazoo. Their home is kept lively by their golden retriever, Carlyn and new puppy, Lucy.

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All About Us

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It is fairly common for us to hear in popular culture and public conservations someone being told, “It’s not all about you” when they are perceived as being selfish, self-centered or self-serving. It’s a very public and definite rebuke, a complete put-down. Get over yourself, it says. Think about someone else for once, it implies.

And then we come to Holy Week and Easter. Jesus Christ is risen today! Alleluia! He is risen indeed! Praise be to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! A reflection on all the drama, all the emotion, all the theology of the past few days, and one thing that arises – a little bit unexpected, quite honestly – is that all of it, Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, are, in fact, all about us.

We are sinners. We fail God and others. God in his infinite power and majesty could do anything at all about it – forget us, leave us to flounder, even destroy us and start over. Yet God decides in his infinite love and mercy instead to save us. The incarnation, the loving act of sending his only Son into this world to be a ransom for our sins, would never have to happen if not for our sinfulness. 

And Jesus submits to the will of the Father, emptying himself and becoming human. He is born as we are born, grows as we grow, lives like us in all ways, yet he does not sin. His commitment is completely to the Father, giving us the example of how we should live. He teaches us, he heals us, he gives us his very self in the Eucharist at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. He does it all for us.

And we reject him. He is betrayed, arrested, tried, falsely accused, falsely convicted. He is tortured and ridiculed, crucified and killed. And he humbly accepts it all. He who never had sin takes on our sins and is killed for them. His death is all about his love for us.

But it’s not the end. Two thousand years later, we repeat it almost as a matter of fact, that Jesus rose from the dead. But think about that! He was dead, but then he was no longer dead! No wonder his disciples couldn’t comprehend what that meant when he told them it would occur. And it happened for us, that we, too, might have everlasting life with God in heaven. Because God loves us so much that he willed this all for our salvation. 

Let us latch onto that this Easter and always with rejoicing and praise. Jesus became man, suffered, died and rose again, all for us. And it happened because God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, loves us in spite of us. God, who does not need us in the slightest, has chosen to make it all about us with His infinite love. Let us live on in that love, taking it and spreading it and making it all about someone else, just as God has done with us. Happy Easter! Alleluia!

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Mike Karpus is a regular guy. He grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, graduated from Michigan State University and works as an editor. He is married to a Catholic school principal, raised two daughters who became Catholic school teachers at points in their careers, and now relishes his two grandchildren, including the 3-year-old who teaches him what the colors of Father’s chasubles mean. He has served on a Catholic School board, a pastoral council and a parish stewardship committee. He currently is a lector at Mass, a Knight of Columbus, Adult Faith Formation Committee member and a board member of the local Habitat for Humanity organization. But mostly he’s a regular guy.

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The Liturgy of the Magnificent Easter Vigil

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Holy Saturday…

A day of quiet and calm. A day of intimacy and hope.

A day when all creation sighed in exhaustion after witnessing the sorrowful and tragic events of Calvary the day before.

A day when the earth trembled as it held the sacred Body of the Savior as it lay in the silent darkness.

A day of waiting….

The liturgy on Holy Saturday, the magnificent Easter Vigil, teaches us the divine art of waiting. We wait in the dark around the Easter Fire, usually shivering in the early spring evening for the service to begin. We wait as the Paschal candle precedes us into a darkened church and our tiny candles gradually become a sea of lights punctuating the shadows. We wait for everyone to take their place before the lovely Exultet is proclaimed in song. And then finally we wait for the reading of the Gospel of the resurrection as the Liturgy of the Word “takes us by the hand” in the words of Benedict XVI and walks us through the whole trajectory of salvation history. If your parish proclaims all the readings for Holy Saturday Liturgy there will be seven Old Testament readings and one from the Epistles in the New Testament.

As these readings follow upon each other, one after another, I feel that in some way I take my place in the long centuries of creation waiting for redemption as I look through the “scrapbook” of memories and miracles, of suffering and assurance that is the heartbeat of the Liturgy of the Word of the Easter Vigil. Story after story is read from creation through the promise made to Abraham and the miraculous freeing of the Hebrew slaves as they raced across the path made by the Lord for them through the Red Sea, to the prophecies of how God has chosen Israel, making with them a covenant, inviting them to fidelity, through to God sorrowing over his unfaithful people to whom he promises a new heart and a new spirit. 

Every baptized person stands in this arc of salvation, this mysterious longing of the Father’s heart for our return to him. We are baptized into Christ’s death and rise with him.

In the Easter Vigil, the readings assure us with the unmistakable echoes of a Father’s heart: “I love you. All of this was for love of you. I have always stood by my covenanted people and I will do so forever. I will stand by you. Even if you walk away. Even if you are weak and wobbly in your love for me, I will love you. You do not need to be afraid.”

And lastly, the community breaks out with joy as we celebrate the Baptisms of those who have waited many months of preparation. I always feel more complete as we welcome them among us, each of us holding them spiritually to our hearts.

If you have never been to an Easter Vigil, someday give yourself that gift. Don’t wait any longer!

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Sr. Kathryn J. HermesKathryn James Hermes, FSP, is the author of the newly released title: Reclaim Regret: How God Heals Life’s Disappointments, by Pauline Books and Media. An author and spiritual mentor, she offers spiritual accompaniment for the contemporary Christian’s journey towards spiritual growth and inner healing. She is the director of My Sisters, where people can find spiritual accompaniment from the Daughters of St. Paul on their journey. Website: www.touchingthesunrise.com Public Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/srkathrynhermes/ For monthly spiritual journaling guides, weekly podcasts and over 50 conferences and retreat programs join my Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/srkathryn.

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Behold The Wood Of The Cross

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Lent has come to an end; it ends when the Mass on Holy Thursday begins and we enter into these three holy days (“Triduum”), which are the summit of the Liturgical Year, unfolding for us the unity of Christ’s Paschal Mystery. The Triduum begins with the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper and ends with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday.

The number 40 always signifies a preparation period, and the 40 days of Lent have been a preparation for us to enter into these holy days and also a preparation for our own participation in Christ’s mission in the world.

On Good Friday, we are invited to look deeply into the Passion and Death of Jesus, to look at his final Word, his final Gifts, his final Suffering. We must look at his suffering face, which should lead us to his suffering Heart; we must look at him, and not look away! In the agony of Jesus we really see that the enemy is real, that sin is real, that the wages of sin is death, and that our redemption comes at great cost. God redeems us, not by patting us on the head and telling us it’s all fine, but by taking on the whole mess of us – our sinfulness, our brokenness, our pain, our sorrow, our loss, our fear, and our aloneness – and lifting it up on the Cross. And as the Israelites in the desert had to look up to the serpent to be saved from its poisonous venom, we are directed to “look on him whom we have pierced,” to be saved from the certain death which is the result of our sin.

We look up to Christ nailed, immobile, suffering, suffocating, surrendering, pouring himself out, offering himself fully to the Father, so that we might be saved. “The collapse of the opened Heart is the content of the Easter mystery” (BXVI). He is betrayed for our betrayal, scourged for our sins of the flesh, crowned for our pride, bearing the weight of our sin to free us of the burden, crucified to show us what Love looks like. Love takes on suffering for the sake of others, without counting the cost. Love sees first the good of the other. On the Cross, Jesus was thinking of you and me, and he was willing to bear the whole horrific humiliation and execution so that we might be with him in the joy and glory of the Father. Forever.

The 40 days of Lent prepare us for these great Three Days, which lead us through this Suffering of Love to the silence of Holy Saturday, and then through an empty tomb to the Octave (8 days) of celebrating the Resurrection – liturgically, Easter Sunday is eight full days, through and including Divine Mercy Sunday, the culmination of Easter Day. Today, we look on the suffering and pierced Heart of Jesus; on Divine Mercy Sunday, we celebrate the outpouring of mercy through that very Heart! 

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Kathryn Mulderink, MA, is married to Robert, Station Manager for Holy Family Radio. Together they have seven children (including Father Rob), and four grandchildren. She is President of the local community of Secular Discalced Carmelites and has published five books and many articles. Over the last 30 years, she has worked as a teacher, headmistress, catechist, Pastoral Associate, and DRE, and as a writer and voice talent for Catholic Radio. Currently, she serves the Church by writing and speaking, and by collaborating with various parishes and to lead others to encounter Christ and engage their faith. Her website is www.KathrynTherese.com

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What Makes You Think That You’re So Special?

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I have the good fortune to work in an office that is on the same grounds as a Catholic retreat center. Because of this, I often come into contact with a lot of great Christ-centered wisdom. This past week, a woman was staying in one of the rooms below my office and I talked to her when I walked into work, on my lunch breaks, and then when I left work. Over these short, passing conversations, I felt the Lord calling me to take the time to talk with her, to truly give her my time, so one day before leaving work, I knocked on her door to chat. 

This woman shared with me that nearly six years ago, she was given another shot at life. She suffered an embolism that should have killed her, or left her with only 6 months to live, but instead, the doctors working her case considered her a miracle. 

She knew it was a miracle. She knew it was a miracle because as soon as she was given her diagnosis, she prayed and immediately felt peace. Enough peace to make jokes with the nurses as she was life-flighted from one hospital to another. She knew it was God and it changed everything. 

Still…she told me that there was someone in her life, someone she considered a good  friend, that told her, “What makes you think you’re so special that God would want to save YOUR life?” At first, it hurt her to think that her friend didn’t think that she was special. Then it hurt her heart even more when she realized that her friend didn’t know that she was also so special that God wanted to save her life, too. 

This woman’s realization is something I have not been able to stop thinking about. How many times have I failed to realize that I am so special that God wants to save my life. In fact, He sent His only Son to be arrested, ridiculed, crucified, stabbed, and ultimately face death… all to save me. All to save you. 

As we prepare for the Easter Triduum, let us stop and marvel at the fact that our God, our Father, loves us so dearly and wants to save us so badly, that Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice… and then CONQUERED THE GRAVE for our sins! He wants to wash away the shame, the fear, the sadness, and all we have to do is say “yes.”

So forget “What makes you think you’re so special that God would want to save your life?” because the better question is “What makes you think that an all-loving, all-powerful God wouldn’t want to save your life?” God is calling us. By name. So why don’t we listen this time?

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Veronica Alvarado is a born and raised Texan currently living in Pennsylvania. Since graduating from Texas A&M University, Veronica has published various Catholic articles in bulletins, newspapers, e-newsletters, and blogs. She continued sharing her faith after graduation as a web content strategist and digital project manager. Today, she continues this mission in her current role as communications director and project manager for Pentecost Today USA, a Catholic Charismatic Renewal organization in Pittsburgh. 

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Be Better

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We are in the middle of Holy Week, people! Less than a week until Easter! Less than a week until we commemorate the greatest gift of all! Is your soul refreshed? Are your hopes and desires getting you a step closer to heaven? Can you feel the deep waves of forgiveness pulling you into God’s great ocean of peace?  

If your answer is without a doubt yes, then please, do tell me your secrets. I feel like I have done my best to be prepared for the memorial of Jesus’ resurrection, but I wouldn’t say that I’m 100 percent heaven-ready. Luckily, God understands that we are not perfect by default and has given us the Bible as a tool to use.

As I read over today’s first reading, it sounds like just the kind of quick guide that I need. I have a tongue, so I should speak to the weary. I have ears, so I should listen to the true word of Christ. My body, though beaten by people that make fun of me and scoff at my beliefs, has the Lord God at my side to hold me up. Going into the responsorial Psalm, we ask, “Lord, in your great love, answer me,” as we admit to being weak, picked on, an outcast, insulted. We praise him because we are thankful, but our thanks must go further than just words. It should be evident in our actions.

As Catholics, we must understand that we will always have more to strive for. Our God challenges us in everyday situations to step up and live out our faith, whether it is with the people around us or in our own hearts. Instead of seeing our faith as a burden or as an annoyance (because sometimes we do), we should instead see it as an opportunity to become a better person. Instead of trying to please our critics, society, or our parents, we should try to become someone our heavenly Father would be proud of.

So if your Lent didn’t go as planned, know that it’s okay because it is a journey. As you attend each Mass this Holy Week, ask God for what you need. Ask Him to bless your body with the skills and strengths you need. He wants you to succeed and is willing to give you the tools because He wants nothing more than to be in communion with Him in heaven. It is a simple matter of who you want to be and if you are willing to work on it. Do you want to be better? Will you allow your Lenten sacrifice to carry on after Sunday and continue to bring you closer to God? Or will you allow Jesus’ Lenten sacrifice be for nothing?

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Veronica Alvarado is a born and raised Texan currently living in Pennsylvania. Since graduating from Texas A&M University, Veronica has published various Catholic articles in bulletins, newspapers, e-newsletters, and blogs. She continued sharing her faith after graduation as a web content strategist and digital project manager. Today, she continues this mission in her current role as communications director and project manager for Pentecost Today USA, a Catholic Charismatic Renewal organization in Pittsburgh. 

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God’s Plan for You

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As I sit down to write this reflection, my daughter-in-law is in labor! Like the servant in the passage from today’s First Reading, our grandson is known by God, even in the womb of his mother. The same God who brought this little boy into being at the moment of his conception has a unique purpose and plan for his life. Praise God!

And our loving Father has a plan for each one of us as well. We mustn’t doubt it.

Often, we are tempted to judge the worth of our lives by very different standards than the standard God has for us. Like the servant in this passage from Isaiah, we often toil and strain and feel as though we have spent all of our strength, just to experience defeat, loss, or rejection. We wonder what purpose our life has and doubt whether we are making a difference.

We can and will make a difference if we follow the example of Christ, the ultimate servant of God, whose faithfulness is prefigured in today’s First Reading.

First, we need to be in tune with what God the Father wants for us every day. The goal is to do His will. Jesus spent time in prayer, communing with the Father and strengthening Himself to do the Father’s will. If we are doing what seems good to us, but not really submitting ourselves to God, we might experience worldly success, but eventually we will realize how shallow that kind of success is. It may even be dangerous to our souls.

The second way we must imitate Christ is by faithfulness and perseverance. For many years, Jesus worked, lived, and suffered just like any person of His day before radically pouring Himself out in public ministry. Finally, our Savior gave every drop of his blood to do the Father’s will and, as He hung naked on the cross, all of His effort, His entire life, appeared to be in vain.

In our own ways, we too experience “failure,” as we strive to live as authentic Catholic Christians. Seeking to do God’s will, we may try to start a business, write a book, or enter religious life. Years of effort and sacrifice may pass with little or no positive results. Think of the couple who loses a child. Or a parent who raises his or her children in the faith, just to see them reject a relationship with God. These “failures” can make us feel that all of our effort to radically follow God’s will is pointless. 

We can’t always see what God is doing, but He is always working marvelously for those who are faithful. When Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, He brought about the greatest come-back victory of all time! 

We must believe that if our priorities are in order, and we are constantly seeking to do God’s will, our Easter Sunday will come. We will rejoice with an endless joy when we realize what God has done in and though us. In the words of St. Catherine of Siena, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”

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Christine Hanus is a thwarted idealist who, nevertheless, lives quite happily in Upstate NY. She is a wife and mother of five grown children.

Feature Image Credit: Christian Bowen, https://unsplash.com/photos/I0ItPtIsVEE